Chapter 1243: Bountiful Rewards
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Zhang Zian’s flashlight could only brighten up a very small area. The strong contrast between light and dark momentarily blinded him, and he was unable to see things clearly.
However, he persevered. In order to blind as many fennec foxes as possible, he swung his flashlight wildly. Inevitably, the light swept across Fina and Famous’ faces occasionally. After all, he couldn’t see them in the dark.
Famous could understand, and as a dog, his night vision was not as good as that of a cat. He was relatively far away, so it would only temporarily affect him. However, Fina couldn’t bear it.
“I didn’t mean it!” Zhang Zian screamed again and again. He was originally mature and stable. He was dressed as somewhat trendy, yet even in the current situation, this was not going to save him from Fina’s anger.
“How dare you? What kind of ideas did you have? Couldn’t you say it in advance? It sucks that I almost b.u.mped into a fennec fox. Now, you are even trying to blind me!” Fina was full of grievances, rubbing and blinking her eyes rapidly.
“Hey! Does that mean that you attacked while you were somewhat blinded too?”
Zhang Zian was shocked. He’d thought Fina was just being nice and did not want to leave a few blood marks on his thighs. He hadn’t expected that it was due to her poor vision. That meant she was angrily swaying her claws around with no intention of showing mercy…
“Why should I see properly before attacking?” Fina asked matter-of-factly, blinking her eyes to recover more of her vision.
Zhang Zian didn’t reply. What she’d said made sense. He decided he had better get farther away from her. He quietly moved away and put more distance between himself and Fina, lest she become angry and use her claws again.
The fennec fox in the mobile phone could be left alone for a while. However, the one covered by the jacket was constantly struggling and screaming. It was close to the flashlight, and its vision should not have recovered.
Earlier, Zhang Zian had said he was going to pee as an excuse to leave the tent. Even if he had constipation, he might have left for too long. If he did not go back, he was afraid that the night watch would think that he had disappeared or gotten in some kind of trouble. It would be a ha.s.sle if the night watch woke everyone up just to find him.
“Do we chase those that got away?” asked Famous.
Although a few had escaped, they may be reluctant to leave the family and the group. They had not run off too far and were waiting nearby. After he’d turned off the flashlight, their sight was slowly recovering.
If they really wanted to give chase, having lost their leader, it was likely that all the foxes would be caught.
“Forget it. We left camp for too long. Let’s go back to the camp first. Those who ran away, let them be. It doesn’t matter.” He picked up the jacket covering the foxes and squeezed them into the sleeve of his own jacket. After all, they were small in size. By fastening the cuffs and putting the jacket on his shoulder, it acted like a sack.
Perhaps because of blindness, the auricle fox in the jacket did not release any odor. Otherwise, besides losing a pair of jeans, he would have to lose the jacket too. That would be d.a.m.ning for him.
Upon returning to the camp, a beam of light shone on him. The night watch was probably waiting anxiously for him. If he hadn’t returned, he would’ve really had to go and find him.
He waved his hand to the flashlight, indicating that he was fine. The flashlight turned off.
It wasn’t a good idea to keep the fennec fox in the jacket. He didn’t enter the tent but instead went to his car, opened the trunk, and took out several folded wire cages.
In order to capture the original Egyptian cats and other valuable animals encountered on the road, the expedition team had purchased wire cages in Egypt and folded them when not in use. This helped to save s.p.a.ce.
Zhang Zian first placed the fennec fox in the jacket into the cage. Then he released the fox in the mobile phone into the empty cage. Two or three foxes would have to share one cage. It was a decent living arrangement, since they were small in size and had lived together for a long time.
In this new, strange environment, the timid foxes whimpered uneasily. They also exposed their sharp teeth and bit the cage, trying to bite off the wire.
Zhang Zian let Fina and Famous go back to the tent to sleep. He then took out a small dish, poured some water in it, and placed it in the cage.
When he opened the cage door, he was cautious in preventing the foxes from escaping. However, they all retreated into the corner until he closed the cage door. They then carefully approached the clear water, first sniffing, maybe smelling him. The smell was a bit scary to them, but the desire for the clear water quickly overwhelmed their fear. They surrounded the water and lavished in drinking it. They quickly finished all the water.
The fennec fox often found it difficult to find a clean water source. They usually relied on the water in food to maintain themselves. Also, their bodies were unique and could preserve water well.
The clear water in the other cages was also gone. Zhang Zian poured some fresh water into the lids, but it was gone in a mere blink of the eye.
At this point, their vision had returned to normal. They licked their lips and stared at him.
It wasn’t good for them to drink too much water at once. After all, they had adapted to the dry terrain. Rather, drinking too much water may cause them to have diarrhea. Instead of adding water, he tore the leftover roast chicken breast he fed Fina into a small bowl.
Like cats, the ear foxes drank little water and urinated even less. The high salt in the food could damage their kidneys, so they couldn’t eat foods high in salt.
The foxes had never seen such soft meat, and the meat exuded a fragrant smell. In addition, the meat had no annoying hard sh.e.l.l or rough outer skin. Except for the dryness, there was no shortcomings. Besides, they’d just drunk water. So even if the food was dry, it was okay.
Although the chicken smelled of Zhang Zian, they were completely unable to resist the temptation of delicious food. After a little hesitation, they rushed to eat the chicken. In order to grab the food, they even had a little scuffle between them, thought it was somewhat of friendly as well.
Zhang Zian tore up some more chicken b.r.e.a.s.t.s and put them into the cage. Basically, Fina’s daily food consumption could fill the stomachs of two or three fennec foxes. After this thought came up in his mind, he quickly glanced at the tent. He was worried that Fina would appear and criticize his actions…
However, Fina didn’t show up. She probably had already gone to sleep, or she was too lazy to jump out and blame him.
After eating the chicken breast for the second time, the fennec foxes were no longer afraid of him. They even gathered at the cage door and stared at his hand that was full of the smell of chicken. They were waiting for him to put a few more pieces of chicken in.
Wild animals rarely encountered enough food. Once they chanced upon food, they would keep eating with no sign of stopping. Zhang Zian estimated that they were about 80% full and decided not to feed them any more food.
After a long night, he was also sleepy. When people saw the sudden appearance of a group of ear foxes tomorrow morning, they were sure to be amazed.